Car sales drop
October's figures drop 23%, but success for Jaguar and BMW
UK car sales have taken a further dive, with October 2008 figures down 23 per cent on October 2007. The news is worse for private sales - down 28.8 per cent - with fleet figures faring a little better, dropping 16.3 per cent.
Year to date sales are down 8.8 per cent (or 184,541 cars) on last year, with petrol car numbers dropping 14.4 per cent but diesels selling a mere 0.4 per cent less. Overall sales for 2008 are expected to total 2.15 million, a drop of around a tenth compared to 2007, with 2009's total forecast at 1.92 million.
The winners of growing market apathy are, predicably, small cars and diesels, with the Vauxhall Corsa October's number one seller and oil-burners making up a record 45.6 per cent of sales. Conversely, though, the BMW 1-series has crept into the top ten best sellers while Dodge, Jaguar and Volvo are among the tiny handful of manufacturers improving sales.
